Items filtered by date: 21 June 2017

Canada: McInnis Cement produced the first cement at its plant in Port-Daniel–Gascons, Quebec on 16 June 2017. Construction at the 2.2Mt/yr plant started in mid-2014. However, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a pension and insurance fund manager, took charge of the government-backed project in mid-2016 after cost overruns.

“This important milestone marks the work of hundreds of employees, workers and partners who have helped make our plant a performance model for the cement industry, both in terms of productivity and environment”, said Hervé Mallet, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of McInnis Cement.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has signed an agreement with China Sinoma International Engineering for it to build a 6000t/day cement plant for US$249m. The scope of supply for the integrated production line includes the quarry, cement grinding, equipment procurement and supply, civil construction, mechanical and electrical equipment installation, commissioning and personnel training, according to Reuters. Once the final contract is signed and started the project is forecast to take 27 months to produce cement and 30 months to complete performance testing.

UK: Ecocem Ireland has officially opened its import terminal at Sheerness. The company’s second terminal in the UK is set to supply the construction market in the southeast and London. The unit cost is Euro2.9m to build and it will be able to supply the market with 250,000t/yr of the company’s slag cement products.

It follows the opening of Ecocem’s terminal at Runcorn in early 2016 and it joins facilities in the Ireland, the Netherlands and France.

“Our second investment into the UK in a state of the art import facility demonstrates to the market the need for the low carbon cement alternative and the growing demand from the UK construction industry. We have already engaged in long term agreements with major concrete manufacturers in the UK and will continue to build momentum in the coming months,” said Micheál McKittrick, the managing director of Ecocem Ireland.

Lithuania: Akmenės Cementas is fighting a legal battle over the repayment of a Euro40m loan it took out in 2007. The cement producer started negotiating in September 2016 with its creditors to have the repayment deferred by three years, according to the Baltic Business Daily. However the deal was blocked by the Baltijos Kredito Sprendimai, which inherited the portfolio of the bankrupt bank Snoras. On 15 June 2017 the Vilnius Regional Court temporarily banned Akmenės Cementas’ six creditors from taking loan repayments from its accounts with the exception of interest payments.

Akmenes Cementas built a new Euro110m production line in late 2014. The company used its own funds and the loan to finance the project.

Angola: Cimenfort has inaugurated the start of its clinker kiln project. Industry minister Bernarda Martins presided at the event that marks the second phase of its ongoing upgrade scheme at its cement grinding plant in Benguela, according to the Angola News Agency. The first phase of its upgrades saw its production capacity rise to 0.7Mt/yr through an upgraded grinding system. Equipment for the project is being supplied by Germany’s KHD Humboldt Wedag.